Skip to main content

Streaked rattlepod (Crotalaria pallida)

Kuku renteng or streaked rattlepod or chique chique or giant striata (Crotalaria pallida) are flowering plant species in the Fabaceae family, annual perennial shrubs or short-lived, up to 1.5 m high with woody stems, hairy and have longitudinal grooves.

C. pallida has leaves with a trifoliate structure with 2-8.5 cm long stems, 3-13x2–5 cm wide and elliptical. Flowers are yellow or reddish brown and appear on stems 15-40 cm long, each of which consists of 20-30 flowers.

Dlium Streaked rattlepod (Crotalaria pallida)

Fruits are pod shaped and measure 3-5x0.6-0.8 cm, each of which has 30-40 seeds that are heart shaped and measuring 3x2 mm, shiny and dark brown. The pods are green and brown when ripe, then dry and fall to carry water.

Kuku renteng grows wildly around rice fields, untreated lands and seasonal wet environments. This plant is favored by many flying insects including great eggfly (Hypolimnas bolina), chocolate grass yellow (Eurema sari), kismo bee (Xylocopa aestuans) and Javanese grasshopper (Valanga nigricornis).



Streaked rattlepod is widely used as ground cover and is processed as green manure. Flowers are eaten as vegetables and seeds baked to be used as a kind of coffee drink in Cambodia. Roots are chewed with areca nut in Vietnam.

C. pallida is also widely applied in traditional medicine to treat urinary problems and reduce fever, the roots are used to treat joint swelling and leaf extract to expel intestinal worms.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Spermatophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Dicotyledonae
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Genus: Crotalaria

Popular Posts

Japanese morning glory (Ipomoea nil)

Japanese morning glory ( Ipomoea nil ) is a species of plant in the Convolvulaceae family, a climber with twining stems that grow up to 5 meters long. The green, finely hairy leaves are 14 cm long, heart-shaped at the base, entire or 3-5-lobed, tapering at the edges. The flowers are funnel-shaped, blue to reddish-purple with a whitish tube, 5 cm wide and up to 7 cm long. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Solanales Family: Convolvulaceae Subfamily: Convolvuloideae Tribe: Ipomoeeae Genus: Ipomoea L. in Sp. Pl.: 159 (1753) Species: Ipomoea nil (L.) Roth in Catal. Bot. 1: 36 (1797) HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS Convolvuloides triloba Moench in Methodus: 452 (1794) Convolvulus nil L. in Sp. Pl., ed. 2.: 219 (1762) Pharbitis nil (L.) Choisy in Mém. Soc. Phys. Genève 6: 439 (1833 publ. 1834) HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS Convolvulus caeruleus (Roxb. ex Ker-Gawl.) Spreng. in Syst. Veg., ed. 16. 1: 593 (1824) Convolvulus coelestis G.Forst. in Fl. Ins...

Bugang (Clerodendrum calamitosum)

Bugang ( Clerodendrum calamitosum ) is a species of plant in the Lamiaceae family. It is an erect shrub, growing up to 1 meter tall, with cylindrical, green stems and white hairs. The leaves are opposite. The leaf blade is oval, wavy, with a central main vein with numerous pinnate minor veins, and serrated margins. The leaves are up to 9 cm long and 7 cm wide. The petiole is up to 2 cm long. The flowers are star-shaped, white, up to 3 cm in diameter and up to 6 cm in total length. The fruit is round, dark green, turning black when ripe. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Lamiales Family: Lamiaceae Subfamily: Ajugoideae Genus: Clerodendrum L. in Sp. Pl.: 637 (1753) Species: Clerodendrum calamitosum L. in Mant. Pl. 1: 90 (1767) HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS Clerodendrum fastigiatum (W.Hunter ex Ridl.) H.J.Lam in Verben. Malay. Archip.: 317 (1919) Volkameria alternifolia Burm.f. in Fl. Indica: 137 (1768) Volkameria fastigiata W.Hunter...

Durian (Durio zibethinus)

Durian ( Durio zibethinus ) is a species of tropical plant in Malvaceae, an annual tree, everlasting green but there are certain times to grow new leaves after the fruiting period is over, popularly called "king of fruit" and considered a controversial fruit where many people like, but some others are even fed up with the scent. D. zibethinus grows to 25-50 m, reddish brown bark and irregular peeling, leafy and stretched canopy. The leaves are oval shaped to lanceolate, 10-15x3-4.5 cm, sitting alternately, stemmed, taper or blunt base and taper-pointed sloping, bright green upper side, the lower side covered with silver or golden scales. Flowers and fruit Flowers appear directly on the trunk or old branches at the proximal, clustered in panicles containing 3-10 florets or flat-shaped florets. Rounded flower buds, 2 cm in diameter and long stem. Tubular petals, 3 cm long, additional petals split into 2-3 round lobes. Crown shaped spatula with a length of 2 times the ...